People and Management January 2019 | Page 22

PERSPECTIVE AI VS EI THE BATTLE OF HIGH-TECH VS HIGH- TOUCH IN VUCA WORLD Rajnish Tandon Founder Bodhi Nexus LLP The Burning Question Will the rise and rise of AI (artifi cial intelligence) make EI (emotional intelligence) more relevant and important or irrelevant and obsolete in an Organization operating in today’s VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world? An important aspect of AI in an organization is that it can rapidly build automated capabilities to fi ll roles that require traditional intelligence by humans. Well, this can make many jobs obsolete for humans in the near future and might leave scars on the Organization’s people- motivation. Does this aspect of AI render EI ineffective or make it more potent? Let’s discuss. Today, AI is becoming a necessary evil for all Organization’s in the VUCA world. Organizations which do not adapt to the winds of change brought by AI will battle for survival and those who do adapt will face unprecedented changes to handle. In both these scenarios EI has a great role to play. On the one hand EI can complement AI by fi lling the gaps (AI being in an evolving stage); and on the other EI can also provide the healing touch to the scars left by AI onslaught on the Organization’s employee motivation index. In either 22 | Vol. 10 Issue 1 • JANUARY 2019, Noida